"Russet Noon": A Tribute To "Twilight' Or Copyright Infringement?

Come September 2009, a new volume in the Twilight saga will hit bookstore shelves. It's called Russet Noon and picks up where Eclipse leaves off—except the story is told from Jacob Black's perspective. Oh, one more thing... The book isn't written by Twilight author Stephenie Meyer . Instead, self-proclaimed "gothic webmistress" LadySybilla takes a stab at the series. Confused yet? Us too.

Although author Stephenie Meyer started writing a follow-up to Twilight (entitled Midnight Sun , which would be told from Edward Cullen's POV), she quickly shut down the possibility of the companion novel after an incomplete partial draft was leaked online . Meyer eventually made the pages public (and can be viewed here ), but she insists that she's taking a break from Twilight duty "indefinitely." However, that doesn't mean that someone else can't come in and fill the void, right? Enter LadySybilla.

We don't know a whole lot about the author—an intial Google search for "LadySybilla" came back with nothing more than a weird YouTube channel attributed to her—but we have some sparse deets about the book's plot. According to PRLog.org :

The Volturi are now watching the Cullens even closer, and a conspiracy is brewing deep within the catacombs of of Volterra. Aro is determined to put an end to Bella's happily ever after. He is obsessed with getting Renesmee to join his clan in Italy, while Edward and Bella refuse to make Renesmee a full vampire. Renesmee hates herself for being only a half breed, and her unhappiness turns Bella against her own daughter. Humans in Forks are starting to suspect something about the Cullens, and Renesmee's lack of self-control is to blame for it. Bella and Edward might have to leave Forks permanently to protect Nessie. Meanwhile, the spirit warriors have returned to live among the Quileutes. Taha Aki has made contact with Jacob to warn him that great danger is coming to La Push.

Wait a hot sec... Doesn't this lady need permission to write a book based on characters she didn't originally create? Good question. Here's the official statement from AV Paranormal , the publisher of Russet Noon :

"When fictional characters become such an intricate part of the popular psyche, as is the case with the Twilight Saga, legal boundaries become blurred, and copyright laws become increasingly difficult to define. This is especially the case when actual cities like Forks and Volterra are used as the novel's settings. Such settings are not copyrightable, as they are considered public domain. Similarly, the Quileute Nation is also not copyrightable, and neither are vampire or werewolf legends. Copyright laws protect writers from unauthorized reproductions of their work, but such reproductions only include verbatim copying. Characters are only copyrightable if their creator draws them or hires an artist to draw them. Stephenie Meyer herself borrowed a great deal from previous works dealing with these mythologies."

Um, still sounds like copyright infringement to us but guess it's up to Stephenie Meyer—and her team of lawyers.

Finally, if you want to hear something hilarious, here's a dramatic reading of Russet Noon 's preface by Lady Sybilla. Try not to drink anything while watching because we can't promise that it won't shoot out your nose.